Nervous?

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Get to the site of the presentation early. Make sure everything relative to your presentation is comfortable. Set up your slides and notes and whatever else you’ll need.

As the guests start arriving, mingle. Introduce yourself. Engage in conversation. This is like stretching before exercising.

Each time someone asks you what you’re going to be talking about, tell them an abbreviated version of the opening. It will make you much more comfortable and confident about the presentation, and you’ll have friendly faces in the audience who will encourage you.

People fear speaking in public more than death. (I’ve seen both things happen simultaneously in my workshops)

I have a theory based on my own speaking experiences. When I know the material, when I know everything about the material, I’m a pretty good presenter. But, when I’ve memorized the presentation, then I’m nervous. There’s a big difference between knowing and memorizing.

I get to know the material by discussing it, reviewing it, reworking it in rehearsals and presenting it over and over again —without a script—until I know it in my bones. I focus on the opening, because if I can get past that smoothly, the rest is cake.

You can’t avoid being nervous when giving a presentation, but you can feel very confident knowing the material better than anyone else in the room.

When we get up to speak it’s not unusual to become dry-mouthed from the anxiety of being in front of a group. Take a glass or bottle of water with you, or have a long sip before you speak. When your mouth is dry it sets off a chain reaction of negative vibes. Having water with you is also a good way to take a pause without looking like you’re lost.

We all get stage fright when making a presentation. Fortunately, for most of us that nervousness can be controlled.

One trick to relax yourself is to use a conversational anecdote as a opening. For example, perhaps you are at a conference and you’re the next speaker. In your open you can talk about the general chatter that you’re hearing, or some famous celebrity you bumped into. It’s not long open, perhaps 3 or 4 sentences, but it is enough to relax you so that when you launch into your real opening you are less nervous.

The nice thing about the conversational open is that it is usually of interest to the audience. As long as it doesn’t go on and on.

Any kind of talking prior to going up to the podium will also be a big help in relaxing you. Just chatting with people in the audience, particularly about what you will be presenting, will make you more calm. And, don’t forget to smile and use good posture. These are physical signs from your body to your brain that you are feeling confident.

Calm your sense of fear with slow, deliberate breaths. Slower rhythm is better than deep breathing. If you practice that every time you feel anxious (whether making a presentation or not) it will become a great tool to calm you down when you need to.

Everyone experiences anxiety when speaking in front of others. Sometimes that anxiety can snowball. We speak faster when nervous, which signals a heightened level of anxiety to the brain which makes us forget points to cover which makes us more uneasy.

When you feel the events starting to slip away, technique can help. Slow down. Stand up straight. Look at everyone and smile. This tells your system you are back in control and to relax.

The best advice to combat stage fright is to know the opening of your presentation better than you know your own name. Know the opening like you know the Pledge of Allegiance, for example. It will give you incredible confidence and a lot less anxiety.

Feeling nervous? Don’t bother calming down. You’re better off getting excited, according to a new study from Harvard Business School.

Participants in several anxiety-inducing experiments consistently performed better when prompted to get excited rather than to relax, the study found. For example, people told to say “I am excited” before delivering a public speech gave longer, more competent presentations and appeared more relaxed than speakers told to say “I am calm.” The shift from anxiety to excitement may be eased by the fact that both are highly aroused states, suggested the author of the study, published in The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.